Originally posted by Mindship
I suspect it may be more like this: the more any religion devolves into religionism (when theists take on that Me>You / MGIBTYG mindset) the more likely it is to inspire atheism because hypocrisy becomes very apparent.
But some people reject God more than they reject religion. In general though you are probably right.
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
But some people reject God more than they reject religion. In general though you are probably right.
Yeah, it can be either way. In my case, I rejected the idea of God intellectually, and have my problems with religion, but still have close ties to my former parish (social ties more than anything, as I've long since stopped attending mass services)...and I generally have less problems with religion as a social construct than I do with just the idea of a monotheistic God as it is portrayed in the major religions.
That may be the exception though, and most agnostics I have known are like they are because they can inherently see the hypocrisy in much of religion or religious people.
I just think morality can exist on its own with or without religion.
If you hurt someone, no religion or ideology can truthfully claim that you didn't. If you didn't hurt someone, no religion or ideology can truthfully claim that you did.
To me, morality isn't about whether or not we beleive in God, or follow some ancient code of standards. It's simply about how we treat each other and other living beings. That's all it comes down to.
If you hurt someone, you did something wrong. If you are benevolent to someone, you did something right. If you made no action or speech to another, there is no right or wrong there. I don't understand why that is so difficult to get. What's with all the complication about right and wrong ?
I would agree for the most part with SoD's assessment, and if I ever have occasion to revise this presentation I'll probably include a section that deals with how morality exists separately from religion.
Good and evil are such relative terms, and needlessly dualistic, but in more mundane terms one could point to "suffering" not as evil but as what should be considered imperative to avoid....anything that causes suffering, whether "right" or "wrong" by any moral standard, is not good. Similar to the "Right Action" and alleviation of suffering of the Buddha, to throw another bone SoD's way ( 😉 ).
Originally posted by lil bitchiness
Well thats a sweeping generalization aimed at ''we're better than you.''Its a reverse 'Why Theists are Moral'. Being an Atheist doesn't make you automatically moral.
Morality is dictated by societies norms.
If you mean the thread then I disagree. It's not a generalization as such, just a reaction to Theist claims of Atheists being incapable of being moral.